My Boy Tore It UP!

I just re-watched Prince's performance from the Superbowl halftime, and I while I have some nitpicks because I've truly seen him at his best, I just don't think anybody's ever topped what he's done tonight.

Apparently, the New York Times agrees:

His performance last night at Super Bowl XLI will surely go down as one of the most thrilling halftime shows ever; certainly the most unpredictable, and perhaps the best. “Dearly beloved,” he whispered, intoning the famous first words of “Let’s Go Crazy.”

What followed was a dizzying demonstration.

I'm quite pleased that at least some large number of people who'd never gotten to see him before have an idea why I've always been such a fan of the little man.

The setlist, in case you need it:

• Let's Go Crazy
• 1999 Intro/Baby I'm A Star/Proud Mary
  
• All Along The Watchtower/Best Of You
• Purple Rain

"Proud Mary" is, of course, the CCR classic, though I think it's safe to say Prince was covering Tina Turner's cover. "Watchtower" is the same story -- Prince is clearly covering Hendrix's cover, not Dylan's original. He probably picked both of those to allude to both the original and more famous cover artists.

"Best Of You" was a great surprise, though rumors were out in the fan community as early as last week that he might do the song, since he'd sent the Watchtower/Best medley to Howard Stern to play on his show. I'm a big fan of the Foo Fighters, too, so that was especially fun for me.

And I should get extra credit points because I called it that prince was gonna rip off his do-rag before he really went into Purple Rain. (If you missed it, my pre-game roundup of Prince was posted on Friday.) Yay me.